Basement Family Room Makeover Plan

Hello Friends,

Today is the exciting launch of the Spring One Room Challenge. During the next six weeks, over 200 bloggers will renovate one room and share the good, bad and ugly along the way. For this challenge, we are renovating the basement family room and adjacent bonus room.

Basement Family Room and Adjacent Bonus Room Makeover Plan

If you don’t believe that blessings and curses can flow parallel, this project may just change your mind. You see, our basement was already finished and perfectly functionable, but man-oh-man, was it outdated. But then again, so was the master bath. And the 2019 plan was to redo the master bathroom and bedroom, then start on the basement.

But then, water.

A pipe in the AC unit broke and soaked the carpet-covered floor in one of the rooms. And water wicked up the walls and up the furniture legs. So in the course of a few hours, perfectly good carpet was ripped up, wet drywall was cut away, and warped moldings were tossed to the curb. 

And just like that, the master bath remodel turned into a basement remodel. All in the course of one day and without one single solitary plan. I was so overwhelmed, I didn’t know where to start.

Where Do I Begin?

Happily, I did have the presence of mind to step back and start small.

The first room to get a designed gutting and remodeling was the basement bathroom.  Since this would be a super dirty job, having just the one room underway allowed crews to make a huge mess across the floors in two other rooms without the stress of damage. Plus, pulling just the bathroom design together was manageable and gave me time to think about how the rest of the basement would fall into place.

If you are planning a bathroom remodel and would like to read about our six-week journey during the Fall 2018 ORC, please click here.

But if you’re looking for a family room refinish, please read on for our exciting remodeling plans. 

Idea Room Number One

My first plan was to go all Pottery Barn. I just love the well-worn, kinda rustic, urban loft vibe in this photo. But I soon learned that recreating this kind of space while maintaining an open and airy feel would be easier said than done due to low natural light and basement ceilings that clock in at just under 8 feet. Yes, problems number one and two, low natural light and a shallow basement.

Photo credit: Pottery Barn

That’s when I realized that I needed to integrate lighter colors and more light reflective colors and surfaces. And although the guys warned me that their movie-room-man-cave better not feel like they are sitting on an ice glacier, I just had to follow my instincts. 

 Idea Rooms Two and Three

And my instincts are loud and clear. I have to visually lift the ceiling and create a lighting situation to make the basement feel like it is open, airy and filled with natural light.

Then one day, I ran across this glorious room on Instagram.

Photo Credit: Undecorated Home

And this room.

Photo Credit: North of Broad

The A-Ha Moment!

Suddenly, I knew where I was going with these two spaces. All of the limitations, like few windows, shallow ceilings, the location of load-bearing walls and orney guys nixing ideas, just weren’t the mountains they were a few short weeks ago.

Granted, the colors and textures will shift around, but the basic spirit of these rooms will be very clear in the Week 6 reveal.

Do I have a mood board to share today? No, sorry.

Family Room and Adjacent Bonus Room Plan

But here are some of the design ideas and DIYs that will make this space happen:

1. Several outdated and discarded furniture pieces are coming together to form a 7-by-10-foot wall unit and painted this amazing Benjamin Moore color.

2. A vintage dining room set will be refinished in the yummy cappucino color in photo #2.

3. A vintage end table, coffee table, ottoman, buffet and cabinet unit will also be refinished. More on these colors later.

4. We will magically hide technology and build an 8-by-10-foot projection TV screen 30-feet apart.

5. We will visually lift low ceilings using a few structual, lighting and painting tricks.

6. And last, but not least, we will add fabrics via new furniture, rugs and DIY slip covers to create comfortable and durable surfaces. I’m still trying to find the exact fabrics, but here’s a peek at some contenders. I realize that a few of my bold-color maximalist friends may think, “Ugh, it looks like a man’s suit.” But please bear with me as this is a dynamic process and y’all know I’m hiding a few cards in my hand.

Please Join Us

I do hope you will join us as we defy the need for sleep and other basic necessities of life during the this 6-week rush to the finish line. It’s always loads of fun and ALWAYS worth the effort. 

How the Bonus Room Came Together

• • Week 1 – Basement Family Room and Bonus Space Plan (you are here)

  • Week 2 – How to Refinish a Buffet Using a Paint and Stain Combo

  • Week 3 – Easy Patterned Wallpaper Using Paint

  • Week 4 – Short Cuts to DIY Upholstery

  • Week 5 – How to Make Low Ceilings Go High

• Week 6- Basement Bonus Room Reveal

Our Hosts

And as always, we extend a special thanks to our gracious hosts, Calling It Home , One Room Challenge and Better Homes and Gardens. And invite you to enjoy over 200 more room renovations,  click One Room Challenge. #oneroomchallenge #ORC #betterhomesandgardens #bhgorc